Obama says the death of Moammar Gadhafi marks the end of a long and painful chapter for Libya. The Libyan people now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny. They also have a great responsibility to build a tolerant and democratic Libya.

Obama did not independently confirm Gadhafi's death, and instead cited the fact that Libyan officials have announced his killing.

A White House official says the U.S. has received similar reports through diplomatic channels and has confidence in those reports.

The Washington Post says, "The death of deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi will be touted by Democrats as another foreign policy success story for President Obama but seems unlikely to seriously affect his political fortunes heading into a 2012 campaign still laser-focused on the struggling U.S. economy."

Nick Kristoff at The New York Times tweeted after the news broke, "If Qaddafi is dead, this is (tentative) vindication of a brave Obama decision to back rebels trying to overthrow him."

Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast blogged, "To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now."

Mitt Romney tweeted "Muammar al-Qaddafi was a tyrant who terrorized the Libyan people and shed American blood and the world is a better place without him."